Canada has given oil sands a dirty reputation, but a breakthrough, commercially viable technology has caught the eye of a former Exxon Mobil president who is putting it to use to clean up Utah's billions of barrels of oil sands.

The Governor of California, with global efforts on climate change seemingly stalled and the concurrence of nations dangerously lacking, is talking up the role of subnational governments and California's pioneering programs, signing international agreements with some and appearing with concerned international leaders.

All of India may not have been vegetarian all the time. But the importance given to vegetarianism in Indian life for the simple reason we could live without taking an animal life, is an enormous leap in human civilization that the modern West has had a very tough time coming around to accept.

Questions and answers about accessing cities and neighborhoods once spoke the language of exit ramps, street widening and parking adequacy. Now, different conversations, and varied imagery, create diverse story lines, where urban policy and citizen activism converge.

The coal industry is in uncharted territory. After decades of strong financial numbers and dominance in the electric power sector, coal producers are starting to fall apart faster than anyone could have anticipated.

Dam builders like to claim that hydropower is the world's largest source of renewable electricity. But new figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) show that the picture is quickly changing.

In a move that seems ripe for a John Oliver comedy segment, the American Petroleum Institute (API) has taken to radio, print, television, and social media to blanket Americans with the concept that our air is just fine the way it is -- more specifically, that ozone pollution doesn't require any further regulation.

A priest visited the woods with his coffee every morning; like me (and my dog) he was a regular. Sometimes, we exchanged a few words, then continued on, traveling silently to our private respective spots.

Your businesses have clout. I encourage you to be bolder -- use your clout to push decision-makers and build coalitions that result in win-win strategies that strengthen both business and environmental outcomes.

Sustainable water and energy development requires public participation in decision making just as much as money and technical expertise. The Nature Conservancy makes a strong case that smart planning needs to address the systems level rather than just individual dams. It now needs to expand its approach and give the rights of affected communities the place they deserve.

Making cities more sustainable isn't just good for nature -- it's good for people, too, of course. That's a concept Pascal Mittermaier, the Nature Conservancy's new Global Managing Director of Cities, believes can transform how leaders incorporate nature into urban planning.

The result is thousands of bright-eyed, clever college graduates are seeking to begin their careers in green jobs. Job growth and economic opportunity are the subtext of the save the environment movement.

While I advocate for organic food, I see a rising obsession for certified USDA Organic that is alarming. In other words, anything that doesn't have the organic seal is rejected as "poisonous garbage," and the farmers who produced it labeled as "evil."

Although Mesa Verde is off limits, I had visions of an unbridled takeover of nearly every place else by the industry, with well pads, derricks and storage tanks overwhelming the beauty of that Colorado landscape. I had fears of the underground effects of fracking on the aquifers, with natural gas and benzene rising up through the streams, poisoning the trout.

It is not at all clear that Shell will, in fact, move forward with drilling, even if it can obtain a city permit in time. It still needs to receive the necessary approvals from the U.S. Department of Interior for its drilling plans in the Chukchi Sea.